Millions of viewers even saw her renew her wedding vows in The Chase, BBC1's new vets drama.

But in real life the brunette former Corrie star is definitely in no rush to tie the knot with fianc? Mark Pickering - even though they are a devoted couple who have been together for years and have two lovely children.

No one is more disappointed than Gaynor's scriptwriter mother Kay Mellor, who has penned many telly I parts for her - usually playing a woman well and truly wed. "Mum's obviously trying to tell me something," laughs Gaynor, who is 35 later this month.

"She's desperate for me to get married. I've been married on screen so many times but have never dreamed of it in reality. It's never been important to me."

Gaynor, crowned Dancing On Ice champion earlier this year, insists: "I'm not trying to get out of anything. I promised to marry Mark and I stand by that - it's really just a question of how and when we do it. Mark would love to make an honest woman of me."

Gaynor lives with estate agent Mark in Leeds, West Yorks, with five-year-old Oliver and Lilly, two.

"We got engaged years ago, before Oliver was born," she tells The People. "So the timing hasn't been right because then Lilly came along.

"Nowwe could do it, but I'm a Buddhist and Mark is Church of England so what sort of wedding would we have?

"I want something that would support both of our beliefs and I'm sure we'll be able to work it out sooner rather than later.

"But it's a case of organising everything, of inviting all our families and our friends and the catering and everything else that goes with having a big wedding."

Gaynor adds: "It sounds like I'm putting it off, doesn't it? I'm not, honest. I just want it to be right when it happens and I'm sure it will be one of these days."

Her Corrie character Judy Mallett had twins by husband Gary - played by Ian Mercer. Gaynor later starred in Playing The Field and Fat Friends, both written by her mother.

Tonight viewers will see her in the fourth episode of The Chase - a show also written by Kay, 55 - playing vet and mother-of-four Anna Williams.

Anna has already discovered that her father George, played by 69-year-old Keith Barron, is not her real dad.

And it won't be long before she unearths another dark secret - her husband has cheated on her with Fiona, one of her best friends.

To pile on the drama, Fiona (actress Heather Peace, 31) has given birth to a love child whose true identity she frequently threatens to expose to get money out of Anna's husband.

While Gaynor feels she has some similarities to her screen character, she doesn't think she could forgive a partner cheating on her as Anna seems set to.

"If I found out Mark was having an affair there is no way I'd accept him back," says Gaynor. "Whereas I think Anna would forgive her husband.

"Mind you, it's hard to say. I always say 'absolutely not' but then there are all sorts of things to consider, including the children. These days splitting up is much more common. I'm a real believer in working at your relationship and doing everything you can before calling it a day.

"You owe it to your children. It's not easy but you have to try every avenue." Nearly four million viewers are tuning in to the drama - a raunchier version of All Creatures Great and Small spiced up with sex and intrigue. But Gaynor, whose other co-stars include Nicola Stephenson, 35, and Janet Dibley, 47, turned down the role three times - because her mother had written it.

"We get a lot of flak when I appear in my mum's dramas," Gaynor explains. "It's fantastic to work together and my mum writes great parts for northern women but we do get a lot of criticism and I wanted to avoid that. I wanted to stay in the background." But the show's producers thought she was perfect for the drama, set in Yorkshire, and talked her into accepting.

"The BBC asked me to come in an talk about it independently," she says. "By about the fourth time I was asked to do it, I decided, OK why not? Why shouldn't I do a great piece of work just because my mum's written it?

"I wrote one of the episodes myself and knew I'd kick myself when I watched it on telly so I eventually said yes and am now glad I did. I think I'm just sensitive about the whole thing but at the end of the day I'm an actress. I've done my apprenticeship and my mum didn't write Coronation Street. Also I did a lot of things before Corrie so I don't have to prove myself. It's just how I feel sometimes because of the criticism we've had."

The Chase, an eight-part series, was filmed in Leeds near her family home. "It was wonderful because I got to see my children every day," says Gaynor.

"I was really fortunate because when you're an actress you do spend long periods away from home. The disadvantage was that I would go home after a long day's filming and there would still be the bills and the chores. "If you are in a hotel, you can relax and socialise. But I wouldn't change it for anything. Mark is brilliant with the kids, he really is, especially when I'm working. With filming you are out at 6.30am and back late but he just gets on with it. He gives them breakfast and takes them to school or nursery and then picks them up and gives them tea and makes my tea. And he has done a full day's work himself."

It's obvious Gaynor and Mark are a loving couple who understand the importance of offering each other support when it is most needed. "He's fantastic, he really is and it's only at times that I realise it," says Gaynor.

"We try to spend quality time together although when I'm working that isn't often. Now I've finished filming I'm happy to take over again and give him the chance to focus on his work or whatever he wants to do."

It was Mark who persuaded Gaynor to overcome her fear of ice-skating by taking on the challenge of ITV's Dancing on Ice, which incredibly she won.

"My mum begged me not to do the show because she knows as well as I do how clumsy I am," Gaynor chuckles. "I did turn it down a few times until Mark reminded me how lucky I was to be offered such an unusual challenge.

"He pointed out what a wonderful opportunity I was being given. Eventually I realised that you don't get many opportunities to learn new things and to be taught by the best and I said Yes."

Gaynor is justifiably proud of the way she triumphed on the ice.

"I remember having our first meet-and-greet when I literally fell on my a*** and thought, 'What a great first impression'.

"I never ever imagined I'd get to the final, let alone win it. I can honestly say it was the first thing I've been really proud of myself doing.

"I've been in this business for many years so I never really pat myself on the back about acting.

"But that was such a different thing to do - it took me out of my comfort zone. You get very few opportunities when you're older to do something like that and it made me realise you are actually never too old to learn something new."

As Gaynor congratulated herself on her victory, magazine articles concentrated on how she had shed about a stone from her figure.

"I don't know why my weight became such an obsession," she shrugs. "I wasn't trying to lose weight, it's more that I was training five hours every day so it came off naturally

"When I started Dancing on Ice I was still carrying a few extra pounds from having Lilly and they came off, that's all. I dropped a dress size and toned up, which I loved, but I wasn't bothered about being lighter."

Now she has put back on a little of the weight, Gaynor insists she is perfectly happy being her usual curvy self and points out that she comes from a line of shapely women. Unlike so many actresses, she is not interested in having a size six figure.

She says: "I just love my food and that's how we all socialise. I eat mainly healthily but won't deny myself anything if I fancy it."

Gaynor has obviously found the recipe for balancing a successful career with domestic contentment.

"Now that I'm not working for a little while, I'm enjoying getting back to cooking again," she says.

"Being with Mark and the kids at home, enjoying good home cooking - what could be better than that?"